Serving has a gigantic perk – Jesus family. When Ashleigh Beard moved from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Birmingham, AL, she didn’t know anyone that lived here. She came to attend Samford University in hopes that she would be accepted into the McWhorter School of Pharmacy.
Three years later, Ashleigh is a student at McWhorter School of Pharmacy, working an amazing tech job at UAB, working part-time at a pharmacy in Montevallo, and living with a Grace Klein Community family. When she met a couple of Grace Klein Community volunteers at a Samford University “sign-up to serve” day, she never expected to be meeting part of her Jesus family.
She came to help with monthly food delivery the following Saturday, filling boxes with fresh produce and frozen meat, praying with volunteers, and jumping in the car with complete strangers to go deliver food to families in need. After a day together, Ashleigh was in the family.
Over the years, Ashleigh has been as committed as possible to helping with monthly food delivery, attending our Monday night prayer gathering, and even traveling to Zambia in 2014 to serve with Kwathu Children’s Home. She’s willing to stuff envelopes, sweep floors, haul donations, and even recruit her fellow pharmacy students to serve with Grace Klein Community.
If anyone has an excuse not to serve, it’s Ashleigh. She’s a full time student in a very strenuous curriculum. Studying is a must and loads of it. She works long hours, rotating day shifts and night shifts. Often she works weekends and has very little time off.
Check this out… Ashleigh Beard coordinated her time off to serve on a two week mission trip this summer in the Dominic Republic, arriving home one day and back at work the next. She then worked night shift, to bed by midnight, and up by 6am to serve with food delivery. On Monday she worked day shift, grabbed a shower and then helped host Monday Night Prayer Group and jumped on the trampoline with community kids. Another day, she woke up, gave a mom a break by cuddling her baby for a couple of hours, and then off to night shift. Each day, her schedule is different, but she’s not one of those people seeking “me time” or using her circumstances and schedule as a reason not to serve.
Maybe she’s run down for the day to her side job in Montevallo, but she still makes it back to help with dinner at camping week. Or she’s gone to the park to study all day so she can come to Taco Wednesday. She is a servant and she doesn’t mind washing dishes or sleeping in a non-air conditioned house. Her heart has gratitude, her hugs are not stingy and her prayers are big. Ashleigh enjoys listening to others, worshiping with family and studying the Word. Jesus is a crucial part of her life, the main part, whether she’s running down the hall of a hospital, sitting on the back porch reading a challenging book, working through pharmacy school study packets, or FaceTiming with friends and family in other states.
Grace Klein Community is a way of life for Ashleigh, not some burden or obligation. She loves God and loves people. She studies pharmacy because she loves God and loves people. She serves locally and globally because the Word says… GO. She doesn’t read the Word as a bunch of optional ideas she can pick and choose from, rather she’s seeking to obey the words of Jesus with the every day moments of her life. She’s not perfect, but here she is in her early twenties praying for people who don’t know Jesus, playing board games with community kids to remind them of their value, and being intentional to give up extra sleep or “free time” to be involved in the needs around her.
Watching Ashleigh’s life, we learn that we do not have to wait until the perfect time to serve, until we have extra time, extra money, or any worldly possessions. Our life is an offering and we can lay it down and serve, as worship to Jesus, in any moment. Whether we are pouring a glass a milk for a friend, texting a prayer to someone hurting, cutting veggies to preserve what’s close to expiration, or returning books to the library, our doing is a demonstration of love.
Love does. Love stoops down to kiss the scratched knee, to hand the frozen water bottle to the street worker, and to pull weeds from the garden. Love listens when we would rather talk, holds someone close when they need comfort, and throws our heads back in laughter when we celebrate together what God did today. Love is better together. Love is accepting our Jesus family, the people He puts in our lives to share the journey, as His creative way of giving us a magnificent chance to experience authentic community. Love is living like Ashleigh, noticing the people God brings into our lives and asking Jesus – “hey, how can I love them well?” And then going for it!
Serving has a gigantic perk – Jesus family. When Ashleigh Beard moved from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Birmingham, AL, she didn’t know anyone that lived here. She came to attend Samford University in hopes that she would be accepted into the McWhorter School of Pharmacy.
Three years later, Ashleigh is a student at McWhorter School of Pharmacy, working an amazing tech job at UAB, working part-time at a pharmacy in Montevallo, and living with a Grace Klein Community family. When she met a couple of Grace Klein Community volunteers at a Samford University “sign-up to serve” day, she never expected to be meeting part of her Jesus family.
She came to help with monthly food delivery the following Saturday, filling boxes with fresh produce and frozen meat, praying with volunteers, and jumping in the car with complete strangers to go deliver food to families in need. After a day together, Ashleigh was in the family.
Over the years, Ashleigh has been as committed as possible to helping with monthly food delivery, attending our Monday night prayer gathering, and even traveling to Zambia in 2014 to serve with Kwathu Children’s Home. She’s willing to stuff envelopes, sweep floors, haul donations, and even recruit her fellow pharmacy students to serve with Grace Klein Community.
If anyone has an excuse not to serve, it’s Ashleigh. She’s a full time student in a very strenuous curriculum. Studying is a must and loads of it. She works long hours, rotating day shifts and night shifts. Often she works weekends and has very little time off.
Check this out… Ashleigh Beard coordinated her time off to serve on a two week mission trip this summer in the Dominic Republic, arriving home one day and back at work the next. She then worked night shift, to bed by midnight, and up by 6am to serve with food delivery. On Monday she worked day shift, grabbed a shower and then helped host Monday Night Prayer Group and jumped on the trampoline with community kids. Another day, she woke up, gave a mom a break by cuddling her baby for a couple of hours, and then off to night shift. Each day, her schedule is different, but she’s not one of those people seeking “me time” or using her circumstances and schedule as a reason not to serve.
Maybe she’s run down for the day to her side job in Montevallo, but she still makes it back to help with dinner at camping week. Or she’s gone to the park to study all day so she can come to Taco Wednesday. She is a servant and she doesn’t mind washing dishes or sleeping in a non-air conditioned house. Her heart has gratitude, her hugs are not stingy and her prayers are big. Ashleigh enjoys listening to others, worshiping with family and studying the Word. Jesus is a crucial part of her life, the main part, whether she’s running down the hall of a hospital, sitting on the back porch reading a challenging book, working through pharmacy school study packets, or FaceTiming with friends and family in other states.
Grace Klein Community is a way of life for Ashleigh, not some burden or obligation. She loves God and loves people. She studies pharmacy because she loves God and loves people. She serves locally and globally because the Word says… GO. She doesn’t read the Word as a bunch of optional ideas she can pick and choose from, rather she’s seeking to obey the words of Jesus with the every day moments of her life. She’s not perfect, but here she is in her early twenties praying for people who don’t know Jesus, playing board games with community kids to remind them of their value, and being intentional to give up extra sleep or “free time” to be involved in the needs around her.
Watching Ashleigh’s life, we learn that we do not have to wait until the perfect time to serve, until we have extra time, extra money, or any worldly possessions. Our life is an offering and we can lay it down and serve, as worship to Jesus, in any moment. Whether we are pouring a glass a milk for a friend, texting a prayer to someone hurting, cutting veggies to preserve what’s close to expiration, or returning books to the library, our doing is a demonstration of love.
Love does. Love stoops down to kiss the scratched knee, to hand the frozen water bottle to the street worker, and to pull weeds from the garden. Love listens when we would rather talk, holds someone close when they need comfort, and throws our heads back in laughter when we celebrate together what God did today. Love is better together. Love is accepting our Jesus family, the people He puts in our lives to share the journey, as His creative way of giving us a magnificent chance to experience authentic community. Love is living like Ashleigh, noticing the people God brings into our lives and asking Jesus – “hey, how can I love them well?” And then going for it!
Serving has a gigantic perk – Jesus family. When Ashleigh Beard moved from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Birmingham, AL, she didn’t know anyone that lived here. She came to attend Samford University in hopes that she would be accepted into the McWhorter School of Pharmacy.
Check this out… Ashleigh Beard coordinated her time off to serve on a two week mission trip this summer in the Dominic Republic, arriving home one day and back at work the next. She then worked night shift, to bed by midnight, and up by 6am to serve with food delivery. On Monday she worked day shift, grabbed a shower and then helped host Monday Night Prayer Group and jumped on the trampoline with community kids. Another day, she woke up, gave a mom a break by cuddling her baby for a couple of hours, and then off to night shift. Each day, her schedule is different, but she’s not one of those people seeking “me time” or using her circumstances and schedule as a reason not to serve.
Grace Klein Community is a way of life for Ashleigh, not some burden or obligation. She loves God and loves people. She studies pharmacy because she loves God and loves people. She serves locally and globally because the Word says… GO. She doesn’t read the Word as a bunch of optional ideas she can pick and choose from, rather she’s seeking to obey the words of Jesus with the every day moments of her life. She’s not perfect, but here she is in her early twenties praying for people who don’t know Jesus, playing board games with community kids to remind them of their value, and being intentional to give up extra sleep or “free time” to be involved in the needs around her.
Watching Ashleigh’s life, we learn that we do not have to wait until the perfect time to serve, until we have extra time, extra money, or any worldly possessions. Our life is an offering and we can lay it down and serve, as worship to Jesus, in any moment. Whether we are pouring a glass a milk for a friend, texting a prayer to someone hurting, cutting veggies to preserve what’s close to expiration, or returning books to the library, our doing is a demonstration of love.